This is a syndicated repost published with the permission of Money Morning. To view original, click here. Opinions herein are not those of the Wall Street…
This is a syndicated repost published with the permission of Money Morning. To view original, click here. Opinions herein are not those of the Wall Street…
This is a syndicated repost published with the permission of Money Morning. To view original, click here. Opinions herein are not those of the Wall Street…
This is a syndicated repost published with the permission of Money Morning. To view original, click here. Opinions herein are not those of the Wall Street…
This is a syndicated repost published with the permission of Money Morning. To view original, click here. Opinions herein are not those of the Wall Street…
This is a syndicated repost published with the permission of Money Morning. To view original, click here. Opinions herein are not those of the Wall Street…
Chances are you’ve heard about the so-called “race to the bottom” in which various industrialized nations are gradually allowing their currencies to depreciate in an attempt to maintain competitive parity.
Forget about it…the real risk right now is an all-out 1930s-style currency war. I know it’s not front-page news yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion it will be shortly.
It’s going to blindside Washington and most of Europe, where central bankers, politicians, and more than a few economists fail to recognize that events from nearly 100 years ago are now primed to repeat themselves.
Worse, it will devastate an entire class of investors who have put their faith in the current economic dogma of endless bailouts and money printing.
Ironically, this currency war won’t start because of international problems. Instead, it will be touched off in earnest because of domestic concerns– only they aren’t ours. My guess is Japan fires the first shots.
Here’s why:
- Japan’s newly elected Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, is calling for unlimited stimulus and more aggressive financial intervention in an effort to boost Japan’s flagging economic situation and eviscerated domestic economy.
- The Bank of Japan has doubled its inflation target to 2% while also promising to buy unlimited assets using a page from Bernanke’s playbook. Bear in mind that Japan’s combined private, corporate and public debt is already nearly 500% of GDP, which is much larger than the 250% that’s commonly bandied about in the media.
- Japan has one of the strongest fiat currencies on the planet, which means it has the most to gain and everything to lose if somebody beats them to the punch. An expensive yen holds back Japan’s exports by making them more expensive in global markets, while the debt I just mentioned hobbles future economic development by robbing the private sector of capital it needs for an actual recovery.
With Washington battling over what to do about its $16.4 trillion debt pile, rumors are swirling that the government will start taking 401(k) money to cure its fiscal ills.
There’s plenty to take.
A study published by the Investment Company Institute in 2012 stated that U.S. retirement assets at the mid-point of the year totaled somewhere in the neighborhood of $18.5 trillion.
If you look specifically at what most Americans take advantage of – IRAs and 401(k) plans – they have amassed $3.5 trillion and $5.1 trillion, respectively.
These large sums of untaxed money are proving to be very tempting to an administration looking for revenue to help rein in our whopping national debt.
“The government is spending money like a drunken sailor, and they need to get their meat hooks into any cash stock pile they can,” Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald explained in the accompanying video on why the government could start taking 401(k) money.
Here’s why you should be alarmed.
This is a syndicated repost published with the permission of Money Morning. To view original, click here. Opinions herein are not those of the Wall Street…
Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Dr. Paul Krugman is at it again.
A favorite of the Keynesian crowd, he claimed earlier this week that fixing the deficit is important but added that “doing it now would be disastrous.” He also observed that the 10-year U.S. debt situation isn’t really all that bad.
At least he’s consistent. I’ll give him that.
For five years now Dr. Krugman has argued that increasing U.S. government spending is vital to our nation’s recovery. And for five years he’s been dead wrong.
Since this crisis began, the United States has spent trillions…more money than any nation in history. In the process, it’s gone from being the world’s biggest creditor to the biggest debtor of all time.
In fact, our national debt is now so high that people literally can’t count the zeros. So most have thrown up their hands in exasperation and given up trying.
Now, to be perfectly clear, I don’t believe Dr. Krugman is stupid. Far from it – you don’t win Nobel Prizes for being an idiot. However, I do believe that he’s trapped in the past–an acolyte of sorts to failed economic policies and doctrine that dates to the 1930s.
Some people, like University of Chicago Finance Professor John H. Cochrane, are more pointed, noting that if Krugman were a scientist, he’d be akin to a “flat-earther,” an “AIDS-HIV disbeliever” or somebody who believes the continents don’t actually move.
This makes him very dangerous in the scheme of things because Dr. Krugman’s solution is that “we” just haven’t spent enough money…yet.
I don’t know how he can make that argument with a straight face.
